Schmidt was speaking in Berlin, Germany, trying to explain why it shouldn't be regulated as if it were a gatekeeper of the internet, since other companies like Amazon and Facebook are just as influential.

Although Schmidt makes the point to show it's not the only "gatekeeper of the internet," Google has meanwhile been ramping up the content of its product listing ads (PLAs), which help make it more attractive for shopping. The more Amazon-like features that Google offers through PLAs — like product descriptions and reviews — the less likely people will be to intuitively start on Amazon, unless they're already loyal Amazon users.